I was just looking for vinyl releases of Calling All Stations - just being curious which way the songs were grouped - and found the only official CAS vinyl appears to be a 3 sides LP! (oh the irony! lol)

Yes, CAS was officially released on vinyl in the UK (Virgin, GENLP6). I have a copy of this rather unique release. It is three sides of music, with the fourth side having an etching of the band from one of the publicity shots taken for the album. If I remember correctly, I believe Alan Hewitt also mentions it in "Opening the Musical Box."

Yes, CAS was officially released on vinyl in the UK (Virgin, GENLP6). I have a copy of this rather unique release. It is three sides of music, with the fourth side having an etching of the band from one of the publicity shots taken for the album. If I remember correctly, I believe Alan Hewitt also mentions it in "Opening the Musical Box."

I've been trying to find a copy for years for a decent price. All the ones on Ebay and MusicStack end up selling for over $150, in some cases over $250. It's quite a collector's item.....

This might be a silly question, but how is the sound quality? I know a lot of mid / late 90's pressings on vinyl were rather noisy for a variety of bands, wasn't sure how this one actually sounded. Regardless, it's still at the top of my want list.

I have a copy too, and it's quite official. Yes, it's a three sided album, which isn't too common, with side #4 containing no music but an etched photo of the three core band members at the time. It's a gatefold with two custom inner sleeves with lyrics printed on them.

Yes, CAS was officially released on vinyl in the UK (Virgin, GENLP6). I have a copy of this rather unique release. It is three sides of music, with the fourth side having an etching of the band from one of the publicity shots taken for the album. If I remember correctly, I believe Alan Hewitt also mentions it in "Opening the Musical Box."

According to discogs it was 4-sided with 3 songs on each side; but then there was also a 2-sided "mini" version of the album with only 8 songs, it omitted Driving The Last Spike, Dreaming While You Sleep, Living Forever and Fading Lights. Which makes this album a pure 'strictly commercial' thing.

According to discogs it was 4-sided with 3 songs on each side; but then there was also a 2-sided "mini" version of the album with only 8 songs, it omitted Driving The Last Spike, Dreaming While You Sleep, Living Forever and Fading Lights. Which makes this album a pure 'strictly commercial' thing.

I've been trying to find a copy for years for a decent price. All the ones on Ebay and MusicStack end up selling for over $150, in some cases over $250. It's quite a collector's item.....

This might be a silly question, but how is the sound quality? I know a lot of mid / late 90's pressings on vinyl were rather noisy for a variety of bands, wasn't sure how this one actually sounded. Regardless, it's still at the top of my want list.

The sound is good (much better than most of the pressings of the time and the double We Can't Dance.) The audiophile in me would have preferred that the album be spread over four sides, but I am happy nonetheless. I also think that the quality of the vinyl version is helped by the fact that while it was recorded to hard drive, it was actually mixed to analog tape according to Nick Davis. I am not sure whether the vinyl was mastered from an analog or digital source, but in my personal opinion (not evidence-based, but ears-based), I have found that even some analog in the chain of recording usually works better for vinyl than a pure digital recording. Also, this was a limited release, so Virgin was not in a rush to press hundreds of thousands of copies as they probably were in the Invisible Touch era when vinyl was still prominent.

In addition to sound quality, I love the gatefold album which has even more album art than the original CD release, and the fourth side etched photo is like nothing else in my collection! I always liked this album cover too with the orange logo, so it is nice to have it in a larger format.

The sound is good (much better than most of the pressings of the time and the double We Can't Dance.) The audiophile in me would have preferred that the album be spread over four sides, but I am happy nonetheless. I also think that the quality of the vinyl version is helped by the fact that while it was recorded to hard drive, it was actually mixed to analog tape according to Nick Davis. I am not sure whether the vinyl was mastered from an analog or digital source, but in my personal opinion (not evidence-based, but ears-based), I have found that even some analog in the chain of recording usually works better for vinyl than a pure digital recording. Also, this was a limited release, so Virgin was not in a rush to press hundreds of thousands of copies as they probably were in the Invisible Touch era when vinyl was still prominent.

Yes, the vocals in particular do have a nice, natural quality to them compared to the CD.

Logged

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." - Frank Zappa

I love having this vinyl release. I bought it about a year or so ago, while I can't remember what I paid, but it probably wasn't cheap. I would wager that unless you lived around a record shop that was on top of things in the UK or Europe during the time Calling All Stations was released, you probably paid a pretty penny for it.

I really like the packaging, but can't comment on the comparison to the original CD release as I don't have it; only the mini LP version from 1999 and the remix from 2007, the later being based off of the vinyl LP packaging apparently.

Vinyl releases from this period, the late 1990s, are probably the most rare and expensive, as it's right in between when vinyl was phased out as a conventional medium that you could buy at regular shops, and before the vinyl resurgence kicked in in the mid '00s. I also recently found a copy of Phil's Dance In To The Light on vinyl, from this same period.

The Genesis camp seemed to jump off the vinyl camp after CAS, as you won't find any titles that have been released since, (Turn It On Again: The Hits, The Platinum Collection, Live Over Europe), only reissues like the green box. I'm glad they did the green box, but as a vinyl collector, I wish they had done the other boxes, and included the Extra Tracks and a nice book with it too. But I digress...